6 November 2007

MADRID - The tourism mecca La Manga is at risk. The expected rise in the sea level (15 centimeters by 2050, according to the Environment Ministry) makes it unadvisable to continue slapping cement on the sliver of land separating the Mar Menor lagoon from the Mediterranean.

This is why the government's newly announced Strategy for Coastal Sustainability wants to "promote a moratorium on development" with the relevant authorities, due to "the risk of flooding brought about by global warming."

Ever since the 1960s, when developer Tomás Maestre bought the inlet that separates the largest saltwater lagoon on the Mediterranean, construction companies and city halls have not stopped building, covering almost every last inch of these 36 kilometers.

According to the Strategy, there are many buildings on the beach, boardwalks, terraces and gardens that have encroached on the strip of land along the coast which, according to the 1988 Coastal Act, is for public use.

There is so much cement that the Murcia regional government, controlled by the Popular Party (PP), proposed the building of a tunnel so that vehicles could exit to the north and authorized a new marina, Puerto Mayor, and a complex on land reclaimed from the sea.

The moratorium would mainly affect an area north of La Manga, where construction has already begun on a huge development with an artificial lake and three 24-story high rises.

Pedro García, president of the Naturalists of the Southeast Association, recalls how a decade ago, Fernando Marín, the former general-director of coasts under the PP-run central administration, sent a letter to the regional government warning it of the consequences that a rising sea level would have for La Manga.

The letter recommended moving certain buildings. Since then, although the Murcian government officially does not allow construction within 500 meters of the coast, over 50 buildings between eight and 10 stories tall have been erected.

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